Type-writing machine.



PATENTED MAY 12", 1903;

' 0. F. HOPKINS. TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

AYPLIOA'IION TILED FEB. 16, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

NITED STATEs Patented May 12, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE F. HOPKINS, OFBROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIOTT 85 HATCH BOOK TYPEWRITER 00., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TYPE-WRITING -MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727, da y 12, 1903.

Application filed February 16, 1903. Serial No. 143,555. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.

Be it known that I, CLARENCE F. HOPKINS, of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Type-Writing Machines, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to that class of type-writers in which the sheet or sheets to be written upon are laid upon the surface IQ of a fiat platen and confined thereon along the margin by an overlying vertically-adj ustable frame, which serves to support the down.- wardly-acting writing mechanism, movable laterally and longitudinally thereover to effeet letter and line spacing of the print. The i ype-bars in these machines are arranged in a circular or semicircular series and stand width less than that of the platen and the.

overlying frame. In such case the sheets inserted at one edge only between the platen 0 and the confining-frame serve to raise one side of the frame higher than the other, thus destroying the parallelism between the frame and the platen. The effect of this is to raise the pivots of certain of the type-bars to a 5 higher level than those of the other bars, in consequence of which they fail to strike and print at exactly the same point. There is in consequence a defective alinement in th print. a

The object of my invention is to overcome this difficulty.

To this end it consists, broadly, in means whereby one side of the paper-confining frame may be vertically adjusted and supported in- 5 dependently of the other, or, in other words, the side of the frame under which there is no paper raised to a level with the opposite side sustained bythe underlying paper to maintain the plane of the printing-point substantially parallel to the plane of the platen.

I believe myself to be the first to provide in this class of machines any means for adjusting and leveling the frame which supports the writing mechanism in relation to the underlying platen, so that the writing mechanisin will travel in a plane parallel with the face of the platen, although one side of the frame may be supported by the underlying paper and the other side without such support, and it is manifest that the details may 6c be widely modified without departing from the limits of my invention.

In the accompanying drawingsl have illustrated my improvement as applied to a machine of the familiar Elliottand Hatch type,

the general organization of which is clearly shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 620,125. With the exception of the de tails herein shownand described the machine may be of ordinary construction.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view representing in detail the platen and framework of the machine. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same on the line 2 2. Fig.

3 is a side elevation showing one of the adjustable frame-supports, and Fig. 4 a vertical cross-section showing an equivalent or alternative form of the support.

In the drawings, A represents a flat bed or platen ordinarily faced with rubber to support the sheet or sheets B on which the writ.- ing is to be effected.

0 represents the overlying rectangular frame, having its side bars arranged to overlap the longitudinal edges of the platen A. At its rear end this frame has ears or arms mounted on a horizontal hinge-rod D, so that the frame may be lifted from the platen to permit the insertion of the edge or edges of the sheet between it and the upper surface 0- of the platen, the frame bearingupon the sheet along the edge and holding it in place. This frame, as usual in the Elliott'dt Hatch machines, is rigid or inflexible and of sufficient strength to maintain its straight or flat 5 form and properly carry the writing mechanism, although it may receive support for only a portion of its length.

E represents a secondary frame mounted to slide lengthwise on the frame O and serving to support the writing mechanism F, which is mounted thereon to slide laterally for letter and word spacing. The step-by-step movement of the writing mechanism for letter and word spacing and the intermittent movement of the frame E to advance the writing mechanism for line-spacing are effected by the usual feed mechanism foreign to my invention.

G G represent the type-bars arranged to swing from their normally upright positions downward, as indicated in dotted lines, to strike at a common point on the underlying paper. 7

It will be observed that when the sheets B of paper or other material to be written upon are of less width than the platen and are inserted at one edge between the platen and the frame G, as shown, they will serve to raise one side of the frame above the platen, while the other side is permitted to rest thereon. In other words, the frames 0 and E will be raised at one side only, their parallelism with the platen disturbed, and the pivots of certain type-bars raised to a higher level than those of the others, so that they will no longer have a common printingpoint. To overcome this difficulty, I provide on one or both sides of the machine adjusting devices by which the frame C may be raised bodily at either side and sustained at any desired level above the platenthat is to say, to a level corresponding, with that at which the opposite side is sustained by the underlying sheet. These adjusting devices may be made, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, in the form of metallic plates H, mounted to turn on pivots I on the sides of the platen, each plate having a series of flat bearing-surfaces at difierent distances from the pivot, so that by turning the plate and bringing one surface or another beneath the frame 0 the latter may be supported at one height or another, as required. I propose to provide two or more of these devices at each side of the platen beneath the frame 0, their number and location being such as to prevent the frame from sagging between them.

In place of the rotary plate I may employ, as shown in Fig. 4;, screws 1, extending upward vertically through ears on the edge of the platen, so as to bear against the inside of the frame 0. The adjusting device may be Varied at will within the limits of mechanical skill.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a type-writer, a flat bed or platen, an overlying frame to confine the margin of the paper on the platen and sustain the writing mechanism, and means for vertically adjusting said frame and supporting the same above the platen at one side independently of the other, said means adapted to maintain the plane of the printing-point substantially parallel to the plane of the platen.

2. In a type-writer, a fiat bed or platen, an overlying frame to confine the paper thereon and sustain the writing mechanism, and an intermediate adjustable means for sustaining one side of the frame, whereby the frame, supported at one side only by the paper, may be maintained parallel with the platen.

3. In a type-writer, a flat platen \vhereon the paper is sustained, a downwardly-acting writing mechanism thereover, a frame to support said writing mechanism, and means for independently and vertically adjusting one side of the frame in relation to the platen and sustaining the same to maintain the plane of the printing-point substantially parallel to the plane of the platen.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 13th day of February, 1903, in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

CLARENCE F. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

CASPER S. BIGLER, FREDERICK M. Orr. 

